This invention relates to game net assemblies such as those used in badminton, tennis and volley-ball. More particularly this invention relates to apparatus for erecting, stretching and adjusting such nets at specified elevations under uniform tension while providing for a high degree of player safety.
Problems associated with game net assemblies have been intensified by recently promulgated rules governing formal competition play. For example, current Internation Volley-Ball Association rules call for equal tension on the net's upper and lower cable extensions with no more than one-quarter inch of vertical sag at the center of the net. The physical forces required to meet such standards are beyond the mechanical strength of many existing game net assemblies. Bent mounting posts are perhaps the most common physical evidence of unsuccessful attempts to meet the one-quarter inch net sag rule. At best, getting the proper net elevation and tension with the prior art game net assemblies usually involves a process of repeated tying and untying of the top and bottom cables on the end of the net opposite the tensioning means and/or changing the cable length at the tensioning means end of the net assembly.
Additionally, the prior art game net assemblies such as those taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,638,346 and 3,065,964 are characterized by having their pulleys and/or tensioning means positioned on the game net side of the mounting posts. This position invites accidental player contact with the protruding features of these devices such as ratchet teeth, lever arms and pulley wheel edges. Furthermore, the erection and disassembly of many existing game net assemblies is complicated and requires more than two people to safely accomplish.